


Wipe the Slate Clean

by SupernaturallyObsessed



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, Mark of Cain, Minor Violence, Season/Series 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 03:03:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11500434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SupernaturallyObsessed/pseuds/SupernaturallyObsessed
Summary: After getting beaten to a pulp by Castiel multiple times, Dean decides that some payback is long overdue.





	Wipe the Slate Clean

**Author's Note:**

> I personally don’t think the violence in this is too bad but I know different people are triggered by different things. Pay attention to the tags and do whatever you need in order to feel comfortable! Also, this is set somewhere in season 10 before episode 18.

Castiel groaned as he opened his eyes. He had a terrible headache. Had he gotten drunk again? He couldn’t remember. He tried to think of the last thing that had happened to him but he couldn’t. It was all too foggy. 

“Finally,” a familiar voice said, sounding a little annoyed. “You were out for longer than I had expected. I was starting to get bored.”

“Dean?” Castiel asked, surprise evident in his voice. 

“The one and only,” Dean said in his regular cocky tone. He was sitting backwards in an old, wooden chair and rolling up the sleeves of his flannel shirt. “I figured with your hyped up angel blood you would need a stronger dose of knock-out juice, but I must have given you a little too much.” Castiel tried to sit up only to realize that he was restrained to a table. Two ropes held his wrists, keeping his arms spread out above him, and a third rope was wrapped around his ankles and secured them to the table. He tried to pull free of the ropes but only succeeded in scraping the skin of his wrists. 

“Struggle all you like. It won’t work. You aren’t getting free unless I cut you loose.”

“This isn’t funny, Dean,” the angel said through clenched teeth.

“Funny? Of course this isn’t funny. Do you think I would go through all this trouble just to play a stupid prank?” It was clear that he was trying to keep a straight, calm face, but Castiel could almost hear a hint of anger in Dean’s voice. Cas took a deep breath.

“You’re right, Dean. I’m sorry,” he forced out, trying to sound as sincere as possible. Something was obviously wrong but Cas knew he wasn’t exactly in a position to argue. He looked around as best he could. It was pretty dark but there was still enough light to see everything clearly. They seemed to be in an old barn or a similar structure. It definitely wasn’t anywhere he had been before and he doubted it was close to the bunker. “Please, just tell me what’s going on.” Dean reached behind himself and grabbed an angel blade. He spun it around in his hand and it’s metallic surface reflected the few lights that were in the room. 

“Take a guess,” Dean said, his voice fully calm again. Castiel repressed a shiver at seeing the blade in his friend’s hand.

“This is just the Mark talking. You’re stronger than this. You can fight it.”

“Oh, no. This is all me, buddy.”

“We’re friends, Dean. I know that deep down you don’t want to hurt me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that one,” Dean replied as a dark smile spread across his face.

“Can’t we talk about this?” Castiel asked, looking tentatively at the blade. He was tired from everything that had been going on recently and he only had a limited supply of grace that he would be able to use to heal himself after this was over. That was assuming, of course, that he would make it out of this alive. 

“I’m done talking. Your words mean nothing to me anymore. I’m taking action instead.”

“What is this about, Dean?” Castiel asked in his deep, gravely voice. “Does Sam know we’re here?”

“Sam doesn’t know anything about this. No one does. As for your first question, I think it should be rather obvious what this is about. This is about all of the times you’ve beaten me half to death or betrayed me or lied to me or done anything else to hurt me.”

“You know that I’m beyond sorry for all of that,” Cas said with sincerity. “I was wrong. I know that now and I’ve been spending every day trying to fix things.”

“I’ve almost died for you, Cas. Actually, I have died for you. And the thanks I get is my best friend beating me to a pulp because he’s God and he knows everything or because some angel bitch tells him to or because he’s just angry at me. While your angel mojo may have healed my face, it didn’t wash away the events.”

“So what? You going to kill me?” Castiel closed his eyes and sighed. Fitting in with humans had proven to be a lot harder than he had expected. It was a little over six years since he had first come down from heaven after thousands of years away and he was still having trouble sometimes. “If that’s what you want, then go ahead,” he said, opening his eyes again. He didn’t truly want to die, but maybe Dean had a point. He had messed up a lot over the past few years. He had tried to do penance in purgatory but maybe that wasn’t enough. Maybe this was his real punishment; getting killed by the man he once called brother. 

“I'm not going to kill you. First, that would be too easy a way out for you. Second, you, me, and Sam seem to have trouble staying dead so even if I wanted to kill you, which I don’t, it probably wouldn't accomplish very much.” Dean walked over to Castiel and started to lightly trace lines across the angel’s body with the blade. It wasn't enough to do any physical damage, but it was enough to cause fear, which was exactly what Dean was after. “No, I'm going to get some payback. You've hurt me. Now it's my turn to hurt you. I want revenge and I’ve decided that instead of beating you up in an alley I'm going to use this blade to slowly carve it out of you. You may very well get close to death, but, as I'm sure you're aware, I know how to torture someone without killing them.” It was true. He had been a good student in Hell. He knew how to cause maximum pain with minimum permanent damage.

“Just be sure that you want to do this,” Castiel said. He head was starting to clear and he was feeling more like himself again, although he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Dean quickly flicked his wrist, slicing into Castiel's side and making him shout out in pain. 

“Of course I want to do this. This is something I should have done years ago.” He made a small cut on Cas' left cheek and an evil grin spread across his face. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun.”

****************************************

“How's it going?” Dean asked Castiel nonchalantly as he wiped blood off of his hands and the angel blade. Neither of them were sure how long they had been there. Twenty minutes? Forty? An hour? It was impossible to tell. 

“I've been better,” Cas said, each word a struggle to get out. He was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. There was a faint taste of blood in his mouth and his body was littered with cuts. None were deep enough to pose any serious danger but all were incredibly painful. Injuries from an angel blade were extra painful to angels because it wasn't just their vessel getting hurt, it was their true form as well. It was about the equivalent of the pain a blade laced with salt and holy water would cause demons. 

“Maybe we should take a breather then,” Dean said, pulling up a chair and sitting down backwards on it. “Wouldn’t want you passing out on me too soon in the game.” He put the rag and blade down and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t seem at all phased by what was going on. Other than the dried blood on his hands he looked perfectly normal.

“Just end this, Dean,” Cas pleaded. Even the slightest movement caused him more pain. Dean really did know what he was doing. “Please.”

“You're begging already, Cas? I thought you were stronger than that.” He poked a finger at one of the gashes on Cas’ side, making the angel squirm. “I thought we were just getting started.”

“Is this actually making you feel any better?” Castiel asked. He was trying his best to not focus on the pain. He had to find a way to get through to his friend. “I've been there, Dean. I've been angry and I've felt betrayed and I've wanted revenge. I let that anger control my actions and I killed hundreds of angels. They were my brothers and sisters and I slaughtered them. While it might have felt good in the moment, it was the wrong thing to do, and now I have to live with the consequences of that choice every single day for the rest of my life.”

“This is different.”

“Is it?”

“Yes,” Dean almost shouted. “First, like I said before, no one's dying here today. Second, you definitely did every single thing I'm angry about. I won't have anything to regret.”

“And you're perfect and never do anything wrong?”

“Not at all. I'm far from perfect, but I've never once told someone to expect perfection from me. I don't hide my demons.” He stood up and pushed the chair back out of the way. Castiel assumed that meant break time was over. The thought that he wasn’t going to die was comforting, but he would still try his best to get Dean to stop what was happening. 

“There are ways to get revenge and feel better that don’t include torture. This is just going to feed the mark, whether you want it to or not.”

“You know what, Cas?” Dean asked, picking the angel blade back up. “I don’t care. I can’t keep dancing around and working with you and helping you find your grace when all of this weight is in the back of my mind.” He slowly pulled the blade along Castiel’s chest. The angel’s shirt was already tattered and frayed and a lot of his skin was exposed. Castiel screamed loudly as the blade sliced through his skin. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. 

“What do you want from me, Dean?” he asked when the pain subsided enough for him to talk. “You once called me your brother.”

“Do you think that makes your actions excusable?” Dean asked, making a cut along Cas’ stomach this time. It took a minute before Castiel managed to speak again and when he did his words came out slowly. It was clear that he was quickly loosing strength. 

“No. You and Sam fight plenty. You go your separate ways for a while, but you always come back and forgive each other and move on. If there’s one thing you’ve taught me about family it’s that no matter what happens you are always there for each other when it really matters. Why can’t we do the same?”

“For someone being tortured you sure talk a lot. I’d gag you but then you wouldn’t be able to scream and that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Especially since I worked hard to find somewhere extremely secluded that we could go for this.” 

“It’s one of my annoying habits,” Castiel said sarcastically, making Dean laugh a little. 

“That’s why I like you, Cas. When I first met you nothing could make you so much as crack a smile. Now, you’re making jokes while being sliced up.” He made a deep gash on Cas’ upper arm to prove his point and smiled as his friend screamed through clenched teeth. “Let’s finish this, shall we?”

****************************************

Dean stepped away from Castiel, who was lying on the table, completely worn out. His clothes were soaked in blood and his voice was hoarse from screaming. Dean was quiet as he cleaned himself up and wiped Castiel’s blood off of the angel blade. When he was finished he rolled down his sleeves and pulled out a switch blade to cut the main ropes holding Cas’ hands and feet. He left the blade on the table so that Cas could finish getting free. “Your car’s outside. Once you get untied you can use your angel magic to find your way back to the bunker. I’ll leave the door open for you.” He dropped the blood soaked rag on the ground and walked off. A few minutes later Cas heard the sound of the Impala’s engine starting and the car driving off. 

****************************************

Sam and Dean were reading in the bunker’s library when Castiel stumbled in. His clothes were tattered and there was a lot of dried blood on his skin. He looked pummeled and exhausted. 

“Oh my god, Cas, what happened?” Sam asked, jumping up and running over to him. Castiel looked over at Dean, who was still focused on his book. 

“I got caught in the middle of a bar fight,” Cas said, turning his attention back to Sam. 

“That was one serious bar fight.”

“Yes, it was. I was able to heal the worst of my injuries but I need to preserve what grace I have left. I don’t want to have to hurt or kill another angel to get more.” As he talked Sam helped him down the stairs. 

“That’s okay. We can get you cleaned up and in some fresh clothes,” Sam said as they started walking through the bunker. “Uh, I could use some help over here, Dean,” he added when he saw that the other hunter hadn’t even moved. He wasn’t sure why his brother didn’t seem to care about what was going on.

“It’s fine,” Cas cut in. It was clear by the tone and shakiness of his voice that he was still in a lot of pain. “It’s really not that bad,” he lied. “I don’t need both of you taking care of me.” Sam looked back and forth between Cas and Dean. Something was clearly off between them but now wasn’t the time to start asking questions. 

“Alright.” He put Castiel’s right arm around his shoulders and helped walk/carry him to the medical room. When they were gone Dean went up to lock the front door and then went to his room. 

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel said from the doorway a little while later. His wounds had been washed and bandaged and he was wearing some of Sam’s clothes. He would have to buy a new outfit for himself. He already felt a little better but he had a lot of healing to do. 

“Cas,” Dean said calmly. He was on his bed looking at something on his laptop. “You should be more careful next time. Bar fights can get pretty ugly. I should know. I’ve started my fair share of them.”

“Are we really going to pretend that nothing happened?” Castiel asked, his voice betraying a mix of emotions. Dean looked up from his laptop. 

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re square now,” he said. “I did that to wipe the slate clean so that we could move on with our lives. I’m not going to apologize for what I did to you because I don’t think I need to. The way I see it I did the right thing. I’m giving both of us a fresh start with each other.” Cas stood quietly for a minute, thinking through everything.

“Alright,” he said finally. He wasn’t sure he completely agreed with Dean’s train of thought, and he wished Dean had consulted with him first, but a fresh start sounded like a good idea. It might take some time, but his wounds would all heal. Especially if he was able to get his grace back. Despite everything that had happened between them he still cared about maintaining his bond with Dean, and this seemed to be the way to do that. Dean put his laptop down and got up off the bed. 

“Come on,” he said, walking over to Cas. “I’ll get you a beer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, this was actually the first SPN fanfic I ever wrote. It was inspired by an item from GISHWHES 2015 where you had to write a SPN horror story using the letters on the periodic table. The actual story I wrote for that was super short so I decided to expand it.
> 
> Comments and suggestions are always welcome!


End file.
